Under Cabinet Lighting

Under Cabinet Lighting

It is pretty dark in this 10×9 kitchen, even with the light colored walls

Do you have a small kitchen? Do you have trouble preparing delicious meals on your counters? Is it really dark in there, because of the size or the cabinet/wall colors? What about adding some under cabinet lighting and shedding some light on the subject?

Big kitchens don’t seem to have as big a problem with illumination as small kitchens do. One of my friends has a kitchen I would die for. LOTS of cabinet space. An island you could take a bath in. Just one window, but it opens to the informal living room, sun room, and dining room. A totally open concept really adds light you need in the kitchen.

My no lighting area

But my kitchen is very small, and has no open concept. I guess it’s the standard size for an average size home of an older time. I have one wall I can’t use because it has tall windows where I can’t put anything there. I have another wall that backs to the hallway. My stove is on the wall that backs to the dining room. Then there is the wall that houses my other appliances and the sink. When I bought the house, it had dark cabinets, and was painted the color of a paper bag (If I remember correctly).

Of course I painted the entire house before I moved in. My kitchen is now a banana split wall with chocolate sprinkles molding. But I still thought the cabinets were too dark to see when I was working on the counters. So what is a home goddess to do? This home goddess went looking for under cabinet lighting. At Home Depot, of course! There is all kinds of lighting choices out there!

Choices

You got the LED tape strips that seems to be all the rage now. They can come with a pretty steep price tag, depending on how much footage you need to buy. Double sided tape is the attachment method. But they require an outlet and the purchase of the adaptor. They can be cut to size, but then you need to buy the connecting strips. And I was not able to find out what happens when a bulb burns out. Would I need to replace the whole strip?

The light

The florescent bulbs were another choice. Again, you need an adaptor and a plug! The price range was all over the place, depending on what you needed and what style you wanted. They mount with screws. But the sizes are limited, and the look seemed a little clinical if you ask me.

The Puck Light Kits were next in line It is a single light bulb that is attached in a set of six by cords for various placement, with a plug. They were fairly cheap. The light goes straight down, so you have to make sure of the placement. They didn’t seem to have great reviews, as far as lasting ability was concerned. And it appears you have to have some electrical knowledge for putting them up.

Nice lighting

And my fourth option was the one I picked. They do make some under cabinet lighting options that are battery operated! Yeah! They can be fairly inexpensive. Put one over each working surface. They were very easy to install, with just a couple of screws, or with double sided adhesive. And the best part about these is they are magnetically held to the base. So in the case of a power outage, you go to the kitchen, and you have emergency flashlights you don’t need to search for in the dark!

Emergency flashlight!

One hint: If you buy under cabinet lighting that has to be attached with screws, it would be better to get a small amount of wood that you attach to the underside of the cabinet, and then screw in your lighting to that piece. Most cabinets made these days are pretty thin, and can’t handle a very long screw. Then you would have the edge of the screw poking out of the bottom of the cabinet for you to get cut on, or your food stuffs or dishes to get scratched with.

Written By

About Hestia Athena

I dare to be different. I like the old days, when we did things ourselves and were proud of it! We have enough people in the world who choose to be just like everyone else. Stop following the crowd and put your stamp on the world. At least put your stamp on your world. Give your home your character. Your creativity. Your heart. Vive la difference!